The Eraserheads

           Waiting For The Bus

Ely Buendia (lead vocals, rhythm guitar)

After leaving the Eraserheads, Ely Buendia, under the stage name, Jesus "Dizzy" Ventura, joined guitarist Jerome Velasco (of then disunited band, The Teeth), bassist Yan Yuzon, and drummer Bogs Jugo (of the indie pop band Daydream Cycle) to form the band, The Mongols. After putting out an underground E.P. A Fraction of a Second, the Mongols decided to have their self-produced album distributed by the major label VIVA Records. The result is a thirteen-track album called Buddha’s Pest. The Mongols’ singles did not get the kind of airplay that the Eraserheads’ songs used to get, partly because of the band’s leanings to underground music.

When Jerome Velasco left The Mongols to study abroad, the other members of the band added The Teeth bassist Dok Sergio to their lineup and renamed their band Pupil. In November 2005, Pupil released an album entitled Beautiful Machines under Sony BMG and label Musiko, with the song, "Nasaan Ka?" as its first single. The song got fair airplay and became quite popular. Pupil’s music is relatively more mainstream than The Mongols’.

Buendia also had a broadsheet column entitled "CURSOR," which was published weekly in the Entertainment Section of The Manila Bulletin newspaper. Due to Buendia’s busy musical career, CURSOR had ended and was last published during the first Saturday of September 2006.

Medical Condition

On Sunday, January 7, 2007, Buendia suffered a heart attack or acute myocardial infarction secondary to arterial blockage. Buendia was reportedly in the middle of a song during Pupil’s gig in Laguna when he felt a sudden pain in his chest and left arm. He was rushed to a hospital, where doctors performed an emergency angioplasty on him. Buendia’s condition was confirmed stable the same night. A second angioplasty operation was conducted on Buendia on January 10, 2007. The operation was successful, and he is reportedly secured from having heart attack recurrence.

Buendia’s former bandmates expressed concern over his health. Buddy Zabala and his wife, Earnest, visited Buendia in the hospital, but Buendia missed the opportunity to talk with them because he was asleep during that time. The couple, however, were able to talk to Buendia’s mother. Dr. Day Cabuhat, former manager for the Eraserheads and one of the managers for Pupil, replied in CIRCUS — The Eraserheads Mailing List, "buddy and earnest visited around 8am the morning after the surgery, ely was asleep, he was given a sedative post-op… marcus, as we heard, is on his way from la union." On January 28, Marcus Adoro performed live on stage for LivELY, a fundraising concert for Ely Buendia. Raimund Marasigan reportedly sent a text message to Buendia.

Diane Ventura, Buendia’s wife and Pupil’s other manager, gave thanks to everyone who expressed their concern for Ely’s condition, especially to local musicians such as Yael Yuzon, Francis Magalona, Chito Miranda, Rico Blanco and Buddy Zabala. She also thanked the two former Eraserheads members, Zabala and Adoro, in her message.

This event also prompted rapper Francis Magalona, who is a longtime friend of Buendia and the other Eraserheads, to state the following on his personal blog: "Fast forward to right now, 9:58 am, Jan. 9, a lot of what ifs scenarios pop in my head. What if the E-heads members are back, like long-lost blood brothers? What if "the most significant OPM band of Pinoy Rock" would be in one room, what would happen?" And in postscript he adds, "Para sa akin panahon na para mag-reunite ang E-heads. Sugod na mga kapatid…rock & roll na hanggang umaga." which roughly translates, "For me, it’s time for E-Heads to reunite. Let’s go brothers…rock & roll until morning."

Raimund Marasigan (drums,samples,percussions,back-up vocals)

After Buendia and Adoro left the Eraserheads, Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Kris Gorra-Dancel’s group was renamed "Cambio," adding Diego Mapa to their lineup. They came out with an album called Derby Light.

Marasigan started "Planet Garapata" also in 1996, a short-lived hip-hop and electronica project that featured Eraserheads bassist Buddy Zabala, Eraserheads sound engineer Mark Laccay and Jeng Tan. The project debuted in Francis M’s 1996 Happy Battle album and featured Marasigan’s early rapping skills.

Marasigan’s band, Sandwich, was formed in 1996 with his girlfriend Myrene Academia (from the band Imago) on bass, Marc Abaya on lead guitars and vocals (later replaced by Mong Alcaraz of the band, Chicosci), Diego Castillo on rhythm guitars, and Mike Dizon (from The Teeth) on drums. Although existing simultaneously with the Eraserheads, Sandwich built up their own fan base. Abaya left the band in 2005 to concentrate on his own band, Kjwan, and Marasigan has since taken over as the sole vocalist and lead guitarist. They have released three albums: Grip Stand Throw, Four-track Mind and Thanks to the Moon’s Gravitational Pull. Their latest album is Five On The Floor which produced the popular single "Sugod".

Marasigan also has a hip-hop influenced project band called Squid 9. In early 2005, Marasigan once again formed another project band called Pedicab. The band is composed of artists in their stage names, Marasigan as "Sugarraims" on synths and backup vocals, Mike Dizon as "Masterbeat" on drums, Jason Caballa (of Twisted Halo and Blas Ople) as "J. Sonic" on guitar and backup vocals, and Diego Mapa as "Daddy Maps" on lead vocals. They call their music "dance-punk." Pedicab’s first album. Tugish Takish, was released later that year.

Buddy Zabala (bass guitar, back-up vocals)

Zabala currently plays bass for another legendary Pinoy rock band, The Dawn, as well as for Cambio, Twisted Halo and Sun Valley Crew.

For his bass work for Cambio ("Derby Light") and Twisted Halo ("In Loving Memory of the Fearless Exploits of the Bolo Brigade"), Zabala was awarded the 2004 NU Rock Awards "Bassist of the Year".

He also helps produce albums for other local bands such as Boldstar, Twisted Halo, Itchyworms, Fatal Posporos and Sugarfree.

Marcus Adoro (lead guitar, back-up vocals)

After Buendia left the Eraserheads, Adoro also decided to quit a few months later. He then moved to La Union and was unheard from until the April of 2005. An email from him was sent to PhilMusic.com about a new project he was working on, called "Belma en Luis". The EP turned up at a shop called "Sarabia Optical" in his former collegiate school, UP Diliman. It became available in different album covers and titles: Urfer Magazine (Mag:Net Café), Duckdive (Bigsky), American Gurl (United States version), and Submarine (Marikina version).

Adoro, Zabala, and Marasigan performed for an event at the Millennia Club called "Marooned," a production of UP bands from past and present. Buendia was invited to the gig, but did not attend. The song, "Batch 88" from "Belma en Luis," was one of the songs that was jammed by the trio.

Adoro was interviewed by GMA 7 newscaster Jessica Soho on her show, "Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho" about La Union, which is now popular for all beach surfers in the Philippines. Adoro now enjoys his new life as a surfer in La Union.

Tribute albums

On February 28, 2007, the official launch of the book Tikman Ang Langit: An Anthology on the Eraserheads (2007) was held at the second level of Powerbooks bookstore in Greenbelt 3, Makati City.^[1 The launch was accompanied by acoustic performances by Cambio (whose members include Raimund Marasigan, Buddy Zabala and Kris Gorra-Dancel), Markus Hiway (Marcus Adoro’s band), and Lei Bautista of Prettier Than Pink. The performers covered Eraserheads songs such as "Ligaya" (performed by Lei Bautista), "With A Smile" (also performed by Bautista) and "Magasin" (performed by Cambio with Marcus Adoro). The event was dubbed a mini-reunion of the Eraserheads, with Marasigan, Zabala and Adoro performing together for the first time in four years. Ely Buendia did not attend because of a scheduled meeting with his surgeon and the manufacturers of the stents in his heart.The launch was attended by around 50 people.

Tikman ang Langit is a collection of essays about the Eraserheads originally written by fourteen journalists who are mostly fans of the band. The book itself was compiled by Melvin Calimag and Jing Garcia, with a foreword by Eraserheads producer Robin Rivera. Tikman Ang Langit is considered to be the first published material about any Filipino band in the Philippines.

Just a few years after the break-up, the tribute album Ultraelectromagneticjam!: The Music Of The Eraserheads was released in honor of the band. The Filipino artists who did their own unique renditions of Eraserheads classics include Imago, Orange and Lemons, South Border, Brownman Revival, Sugarfree, MYMP, Sponge Cola, 6Cycle Mind, Francis M., Rico J. Puno, and Radioactive Sago Project. The second volume is in the works.

Many people questioned whether the time was right for a tribute to a group that had just disbanded four years ago, with its former members still active in the music industry.Buendia, for his part, had mixed feelings about the tribute album, saying that "It’s too early to be taking part in it and I don’t see myself being part of it kasi (because) I’m still doing something here…To be part of it is like acknowledging na tapos na ako (that I am finished); isa na lang akong trophy na itatago na (I’m just a trophy to be shelved). Siguro kung uugud-ugud na ako (Maybe when I’m really old), that’s the time I’m gonna look back." Ironically though, he is featured in one of the tracks, "Superproxy 2k6" by Francis Magalona. Still, many fans - even some local bands active in the industry today - are hoping that the band will have some sort of reunion.

Book launch and mini-reunion

After weeks of speculation, it was confirmed that the founding member, main songwriter and lead singer, Ely Buendia, had left the band in mid-March 2002 for "reasons unknown". However, in subsequent interviews, Buendia pointed to business matters as the cause of the band’s break-up.

In a PULP Magazine interview, Buendia’s wife and manager, Diane Ventura, claimed that the breakup started with a miscommunication between Buendia and the band’s roadie. The result was that Buendia and Ventura turned up late at a mall gig. This angered the roadie and called them "unprofessional". Everybody else on the gig gave Buendia "a cold shoulder", said Ventura, thinking that he deliberately came late. The next day, Buendia brought up the incident to the attention of the band’s then manager Butch Dans. Buendia allegedly blamed the incident to the management’s "unprofessionalism". Dans, however, allegedly chose to believe the roadie’s account over Buendia’s, without delving further into the matter. Dans even allegedly insinuated that Buendia and Ventura were "probably too high on drugs" the other night to remember the gig’s schedule. Ventura vehemently denied the allegation and denied further that she and Buendia were even told of the schedule. She added that the three other band members also believed the roadie’s account, which deeply disgusted Buendia because he felt they betrayed their longstanding friendship. Buendia later announced to his bandmates through SMS that he was quitting the band.

In another interview, Marasigan said he was eating in SM Megamall, a local shopping mall, when he heard of the news (how he heard of it, was not clear). He said he was "semi-surprised" and wondered if Zabala already knew about it. Adoro told of the story now famous among Eraserheads fans about Buendia’s cryptic text message. He said Buendia stated in the text message that he had already "graduated." Adoro quipped in the same interview that it was natural for Buendia to graduate first, since he was in batch ‘87 of their college (UP Diliman), while the rest were in batch ‘88.

Zabala confessed in an interview that disbanding had not been that far away from the members’ minds. He said that there were so many occasions wherein they could have disbanded but did not.

Adoro expressed the belief of some people that the band was getting too old, and that it was "selfish" for the band to continue, likely referring to comments about how it’s time for other bands, besides the Eraserheads, to shine. The band made it clear, though, that Buendia’s departure from the band wasn’t in any way violent and that there was no shouting (sigawan) or any confrontation involved.

Without giving up, the three remaining original Eraserheads decided to continue. Within just a few weeks, the "new" Eraserheads debuted at Hard Rock Cafe in Makati City on April 19 featuring a female lead singer, Kris Gorra-Dancel from the band, Fatal Posporos. However after a few months, Adoro finally quit the band. The remaining members of the Eraserheads added Diego Mapa and Ebe Dancel to their lineup and renamed their band, "Cambio."

In 1989, two college bands from the University of the Philippines, Diliman were both in search of new members for a new group. Curfew, which consisted of Buddy Zabala on bass and Marcus Adoro on guitars, met up with Sunday School, which consisted of Ely Buendia on vocals and Raimund Marasigan on drums, in December of the same year. The four decided to form a new group, calling themselves The Eraserheads. The band took their name from the movie "Eraserhead" by surrealist director David Lynch, which they picked up while reading a magazine. They did mostly covers, playing at every gig in their school that they’ve managed to get into. Eventually, they did the rounds of Manila’s rock club circuit, achieving little success.

The band found that they weren’t good at covering other people’s hits, so they concentrated on writing their own materials instead. "After all, if we committed a mistake, no one would recognize it since they don’t know the song, right?" Buendia explained.

Their original songs live soon earned them a cult following in their school, which gradually spread outside the campus. One of the songs, a pop song entitled, "Pare Ko," became very popular, partly because of its lyrics that included a few obscenities.

The band recorded a cheap, nine-song demo tape in Marasigan’s garage on January 6, 1991. They then shopped the demo around record labels, clubs and radio stations, hoping to have their songs reach the public. However, they were rejected at every turn, with a recording studio deeming that their demo was "not pop enough." In May 1991, a friend professor from their school, Humanities professor Robin Rivera, helped them record and mix a better version of the demo on a four-track recorder. The demo was named Pop-U!, in response to those who turned them down.

Meanwhile, Buendia was employed as a student copywriter by BMG Records Pilipinas (now part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment). He worked with BMG during the day and wrote songs with the band during the night. Eventually, the songs of Buendia and the band caught the attention of BMG A&R Director Vic Valenciano. Valenciano listened to the songs and then commented that they were very raw technically, but that there was something promising in them. Subsequently, BMG gave the Eraserheads’ songs a try. In 1992, BMG signed up the Eraserheads for a three-year record deal.

Mainstream Success

In July 1992, the Eraserheads started recording their debut album called Ultraelectromagneticpop!. The album featured "Pare Ko", "Toyang" and "Tindahan Ni Aling Nena", all of which were also present in Pop-U!. The album also featured a sanitized version of "Pare Ko" called "Walang Hiyang Pare Ko". Later in the same year, BMG initially released 5,000 copies of the album. The album became a smash, with the songs "Ligaya", "Pare Ko" and "Toyang" topping the charts, that, by the end of the year, BMG sold 300,000 copies, and Ultraelectromagneticpop! turned sextuple platinum.

The album met some opposition as the Philippine Association of the Record Industry (PARI) attempted to censor "Pare Ko" but without success. The public was said to have found its OPM Fab Four in the Eraserheads, opening the second wave of band invasion. The Eraserheadsmania was born.

In October 1994, the Eraserheads came up with a follow-up album entitled Circus. The band said that the album aptly described their life since their smashing debut. The album was unpredictable and unconventional compared to the OPM ballads at that time, and established the band members as good songwriters and musicians. The songs varied in style and mood, ranging from euphoric and hilarious to tender and somber.

Five of the songs became successive hits: "Kailan", "Magasin", "Alapaap", "With A Smile" and "Sembreak". Circus turned gold in just one month with 20,000 copies sold. Eventually, it turned quintuple platinum with 200,000 copies sold. But like Ultraelectromagneticpop!, it too had its share of controversy. In August 1995, Senator Tito Sotto, who was involved in an anti-drug campaign at that time, called for a ban on the airplay and sales of "Alapaap" over an alleged promotion of drug abuse in the lyrics of the song. In response, the Eraserheads denied the allegation, saying that the it was just a misinterpretation, and that the song was the band’s "ode to freedom", not an "ode to drug abuse".

Their much-awaited third album, Cutterpillow, was launched via an open-air concert attended by fans and followers in colossal proportions. With Christmas barely a month over, the Eraserheads opened 1996 by making history in the Philippine music scene once more. Cutterpillow turned gold, even before it hit the record stores, as a result of the pre-selling promo campaign. Soon, the band shot the music video for the song "Ang Huling El Bimbo" (The Last El Bimbo) from the album.

Later that year, the Eraserheads came up with a conceptual Christmas album called Fruitcake. This was shortly followed by a release of a companion storybook of the same title.

Also in 1996 the Eraserheads starred with Comedian/TV Host Joey De Leon of Eat Bulaga in a comedy film produced By GMA Network’s Cinemax Studios (now GMA Films), Run Barbi Run.

Going International

The year 1997 was marked with a series of gigs outside of the Philippines. The Eraserheads’ first ever overseas gig was at BMG Records’ "Sentosa Pop Festival" in Singapore in March 1997. It was then followed by a mini U.S. tour in May. Then, four months later in September, they were at the Radio City Music Hall in New York to receive the coveted "Moon Man" trophy for winning the 1997 MTV Asia Viewer’s Choice Award, which made the Eraserheads, the first ever Filipino artists to win the award.

Their fifth album, Sticker Happy, was released a few days after the MTV Awards. A month later, they were back in Singapore for a series of shows and appearances for MTV Asia.

In February 1998, they represented the Philippines at the annual "Asia Live Dream ‘98" for NHK Broadcasting in Tokyo, Japan. Then in May, they embarked on another U.S. tour, taking them from Oakland to Los Angeles and to New York. The band toured the U.S. under the Happy Box production outfit, which was formed by brothers Haro De Guzman and Levan "Schizo" De Guzman and some other friends.

August 1998 saw the release of the album Aloha Milkyway in the Asian region, and finally in the Philippines two months later. The album contains chart-topping songs that have been re-mastered, as well as five new songs.

In early 1999, they did sold-out shows in Hong Kong, Sydney, and Dubai. Their next album, Natin99, was released in May.

Between May and June 2000, they did another tour of America dubbed, "The Pop Machine Tour - USA2000", taking them from New York to Chicago and to California. After almost two years, the much-awaited studio album, Carbon Stereoxide, was released in March 2001, featuring the tracks, "Maskara", "Playgound" and "Hula."